I always thought cold butter was a myth for pie crust until I tried it in my own kitchen

For years, I just used room temp butter because it was easier to mix. I figured the 'keep everything cold' rule was for fancy bakeries, not my home oven. Then last fall, I made two apple pies for a party, one with my usual way and one where I froze the butter and used ice water. The difference was crazy. The cold butter crust had these perfect little flaky layers, while mine was just kind of tough and dense. It wasn't even hard to do, I just grated the frozen stick right into the flour. Now I keep a stick in the freezer just for pastry. Has anyone else had a simple trick change their whole game like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

brookes372mo ago

Is it really that big a deal?

noahpark4d agoMost Upvoted

Found it helped to just jump in and try, @brookes37. For me, getting started was the hardest part, but once I did it felt less like a big deal. Maybe give it a shot and see how it goes?

sarah_brown2mo ago

Depends, what's the "that" in this situation?